When the clocks in the lower right corner of our computers struck noon, we inhaled our sandwiches and salads in three fell bites. We gathered our notebooks and pens and hurried outside. Once inside my small Civic, we paused for a second to bask in the warmth of the afternoon sun — it was nice — which was a pleasant change of temperature, especially when compared to the chilly office consistently kept as warm as a refrigerator, lest we should all spoil and go bad before finishing our day’s work.
At Starbucks, we stood in line and mused over the menu we have both come to know so well. With our drinks in hand, now we could concentrate. We sat at a metal table outside, opened our notebooks and began. I wanted to begin with the name. And then I mentioned having an espresso machine and chairs and couches and, oh, what about a makeup artist?
Nathalie interrupted. She had questions. Good, thought provoking questions. As she asked each of her questions, they made me really stop to think about what I wanted the answers to be. When we didn’t have answers, we would write the question down in our notebooks to look into for later.
While we tossed ideas back and forth, the air around us changed, becoming infused with an electric golden light, and even the people we observed walking by us in their business casual attire, the ones who looked a bit sad some days with their sweater knits and Subway sandwiches, looked more alive, more content. As we wrapped up and made a few more notes in the clean white pages of our notebooks, I felt happy and glowy and was pleased to have someone else understand the wonderful feeling of dreaming. Today we dreamed about starting our own business: opening a women’s clothing boutique.
More details to come as they come… 😉
Okay, that's exciting. Stepping out on a limb, creating something new with women you love. What a wonderful way to start the spring.
Wow! Judging from what I've seen in your blogs, I can tell you have amazing taste. I would be surprised if this shop turned out to be anything less than fabulous. Congratulations on your new ambitions! ^_^
Rachael
P.S. I finally got my new blog started. It still needs a LOT of tweaking, but here's the URL:
http://damnitwoman.blogspot.com/
That's exciting news, B! Can't wait to hear the details.
It is exciting to be young & full of such promising ideas. I have had my own business for over 20 yrs. (interior designer). The first thing I did (even more important than talent for design & education) was to learn how to run a business. I went to the local college small business mentoring progrm that they had for small business start ups. Hopefully they have such a program in your area. They had general classes for how to set up a business & all the papers work, tax papers, filings with agencies etc that are required. They had classes on how to set up a bookeeping system for your particular type of business & then they mentored once a month coming to the business to help with any problem areas & make suggestions on how to make things run smoother. The most promising of shops & small businesses fail because they don't have a good business plan. I know you will do great. This can help make it even greater.
Good Luck.
How exciting! You may have been joking, but I really like the idea of having a makeup artist there too! Can't wait to see more plans :.)
Suzanne, that is so helpful! Thank you for sharing. We're still doing our research and will look into local schools to see if there is anything offered similar to what you described. It's also inspiring to hear you've been going on now 20 years strong! 🙂